


You Always Will Be

by Phoenixflames12



Category: Little Women (2019), Little Women Series - Louisa May Alcott
Genre: Canonical Character Death, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-29
Updated: 2020-01-29
Packaged: 2021-02-27 20:29:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 589
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22469419
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Phoenixflames12/pseuds/Phoenixflames12
Summary: Having come to terms with her illness, Beth tries to comfort Jo
Comments: 2
Kudos: 13





	You Always Will Be

Rheumatic heart disease.

That’s what Doctor Bates called it, and knowing that the illness, the heaviness, the flutterings, the moments where she could not catch her breath, brings Beth a strange sense of inner peace.

She knows that Jo doesn’t like it.

Her beautiful, brave, fearless sister is fighting tooth and nail to refute it, to beat it back, to push it out of the achingly familiar blue papered walls of their once shared bedchamber, but Beth knows that it isn’t enough.

‘Beth?’

The pillow is hot under the weight of her plait, Jo’s fingers cold and clinging in her palm.

‘Jo.’

Her tongue is heavy and aching in her mouth, each breath sapping another ounce of strength from her.

She feels them go with a little tinge of regret, floating like fairy dust out of the open window and across the garden where she had once danced with Amy with flowers in her hair at Meg’s wedding.

Even then, in the blissful joy of that summer day, she had known that she was on borrowed time.

‘Beth.’

Jo’s grip tightens in her palm, and she tries to gather herself together, summoning up the strength to look at her sister.

Jo’s eyes are wide and deep with anxiety, an anxiety Beth knows all too well that she is trying her best to hide.

And failing.

She can see it in the way that her sister bites her lip, the way that her accompanying smile does not quite reach her eyes.

‘Are you all right, Jo?’

The words cost her more than she thought, the question rasped in the heavy air and she has to pause and wait for the pain in her chest to ease.

Jo nods too quickly, a finger reaching over to tuck an escaped lock of hair behind Beth’s ear, the warmth of her fingers trembling ever so slightly.

‘You won’t go just yet?’

The question is one that so many people have asked her in so many different ways, in the silent longing that she has felt sitting up and running her fingers over Mr Laurence’s beautiful piano- the scales and chords and melodies weaving themselves in a great tapestry of light and sound behind her eyes, flowing like water through her fingers.

In the way that Marmee and Father have watched her when they think she is not looking, in the way that Marmee’s hands have rested a little longer than usual when she says goodnight.

In the way that Jo has tried not to leave her side, sharing her bed like they had when they were little girls, fiercely protective, believing that she can dare death to take her sister before her time.

Reaching over to squeeze her sister’s hand, she cannot help but smile as the worn bumps and pits of callouses from her pens and ink stains rise up through her fingers.

Jo was keeping her promise, then.

‘I’m sorry that I won’t be able to see your book,’ she murmurs into the warmth of Jo’s chest, the warmth and strength of her sisters’ heart filling her own with hope.

‘You’re in every word, I promise.’ Jo’s voice is choked against her cheek.

‘I’ll try to be,’ Beth says quietly, lifting her gaze to meet Jo’s, those clear blue eyes desperately trying to smile.

‘You are,’ her sister replies, each word heralding the return of the fierce, boyish Jo of old as she tightens the embrace, bending to place a soft, chaste kiss in Beth’s hair.

‘You always will be.’

* * *

_**Fin** _

**Author's Note:**

> Please feel free to read and review! Comments, suggestions, constructive criticisms etc are like chocolate to my brain!
> 
> Much love and enjoy x


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